How to Order Wine in a Restaurant

I love sitting down in a restaurant and being handed a lovely leather bound folder full of interesting wines to choose from (my wife gets very bored!), but I know a lot of you find reataurant lists confusing, pricy and even a little scary.  Well, it's time I tried to de-mystify the experience!
How to get the best out of a restaurant's list
Wine in restaurants can be very expensive (more of which later on), so unless you have a mega budget it can be tricky to pick a good value wine.  There are a few simple rules, however.
House wine - try before you buy!  House wine in restaurants can be a really good buy, but can also be a complete rip-off.  It all depends upon how the establishment decides to price it.  So ask to sample a bit before you order - most places will have a bottle open and should be happy to give you a small taste.  This goes for any wine being served by the glass, but avoid tasting them all - the waiter will think you're really taking the mick!
Never buy the second cheapest wine on the list.' Not always the case, but many restaurants take advantage of the fact that people don't want to be seen ordering the house wine, so go for the next one up.
Avoid the big names.  Wines such as Chablis, Pinot Grigio and Kiwi Sauvignon are sold in huge amounts in restaurants because people feel comfortable ordering them.  As a result, there's a huge demand and the quality and value of the wines often doesn't come up to scratch
Look for the hidden gems.  The best value wines on restaurant lists are almost always lesser-known wines from unfashionable areas of the wine world.  For whites, try unusual Italians like Falanghina, Alsatian and German bottles or grapes from the new world you've never heard of  This may feel like a lottery if you've never tried the wines before, but is almost always rewarded.  It's often worth checking out vintages of generic wines too.  I recently had a fantastic bottle of Bourgone Rouge in a restaurant for less than £20.  I spotted that the vintage was 2002 and thought it worth a go (it's unusual for restaurants to have old wines at this level) with ample reward!

Jack finds the Perfect Wine Match for Asparagus

Asparagus! A handy hint well in time for asparagus season...

Asparagus - it looks like nothing you've really ever seen before. It's easy to undercook and easy to overcook. It has a texture and a mouth-feel that sets itself apart from other vegetables. Oh, and it makes your wee smell. No wonder people get themselves in a right mess over matching wine with this misunderstood food, but like anything else, a dip into the wonderful realms of the world-wide-web, your local fruit-and-veg shop (and you local, neighbourhood wine shop!) produces results that will have you ringing up your mum with your new found culinary masterpiece. Go on, I won't tell a soul you stole it from me...click here to read more

 

Tuesday 22nd February 2011 - Cheese & Wine: a match made in Heaven?

Wine and cheese. Sounds simple, no? But with about as many styles of cheese as there are wine, it would be ridiculous to assume that they all went together. Quite the opposite. We held a tasting to find what we thought was best, but ultimately there are no right and wrongs. The most resounding result of the night was simple - people who attend a wine and cheese tasting generally like wine and cheese. Move over, rocket science.

After a short introduction by Marc on some general food and wine matching principles, we dug into the first pairing of the night.

Jansz NV Sparkler - Tasmania, Australia £13.99 & Parmesan

Quirky and a little bit unexpected, this went down a treat. One of my matches, I introduced it by proclaiming Champagne and Sparkling wine in general as THE best wine for food, owing to the huge range of styles and the generally high level of acidity. Blanc de Blanc for Fish & Chips, NV for cheeses and white meats, Rose for Tapas, Demi-Sec for fruit-based puds. All of them, one after the other, preferably!

Ballandors, Quincy - Loire, France £12.75 & Crottin de Chavignol

Goats cheese and Sauvignon Blanc might be clichéd, but damn is it good! The Loire Sauv was fresh and herbaceous, the mineral streak acting as a deft cutlass slicing through the soft, fatty creaminess of the cheese. B, E, A oootiful.

Turckheim, 'Brand' Gewurz G.C. - Alsace, France £17.75 & Munster

By far the most controversial pairing of the night, and like the last one, another French pairing from our French manager Marc. The Gewurz was truly sensational, honeyed and floral, spicy and delightful. The cheese was stinky and cloying. The general consensus was that the wine didn't have quite enough acidity to deal with the cheese, but that separately, they were pretty special.

Palacios Remondo, 'Propiedad' - Rioja, Spain £24.99 & Manchego

I think just about everyone in the room was astounded by the unbelievable softness of this wine. By no means a traditional Rioja, but not a beefy modern one either. The year of oak beautifully consumed by the sensual, sexy red fruits, this was a real palate cleanser for the hard Spanish cheese. Marc's last pairing.

Duval, 'Entity' Shiraz - Barossa, Aus. £21.99 & Vintage Cheddar

This surprised a lot of people too. The Shiraz was beefy but so elegant and so primed for food too. Lots of dense black fruits with some spice and incense aromas, but refined and classy - the crunchy fruits playing off the crunchy cheese, both gradually melting in the mouth.

Niepoort, 'Tawny Dee' en Magnum - Douro, Por. £28.50 & Stilton

The best value Tawny Port in the world. Easy drinking but refined and full of savoury, nutty flavours (as one would hope) this was my last easy match with the stilton. As I rather cheekishly said to a customer who admitted that he didn't like Port, 'It has been scientifically proven that there is something wrong with you'. Too True, too true.

The cheeses are worthy of a mention too, which we had purchased from the Cheese Hamlet in Didsbury, a tiny award-winning cornucopia of cheeses and other gastronomical goods.

The night was a riotous success, with a real atmosphere amongst the conversation and consumption. The winning combination for the evening? A tie between the Parmesan and Jansz and the Quincy and the goats cheese. The French domination in this department has been challenged by... the Italian/Australian mongrel. I'd say Reserve Wines has it again for innovation!

If you would like to purchase any of these wines, most are on the website (you can find them by searching) or please call us on 0161 4380101, or if you live locally, we'd love to see you in the shop...

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